Alcohol-treatment Center Will Close Sanford Facility Being Shut Down Because Of Shortage Of Funds

December 14, 1985|By Elaine Bennett of The Sentinel Staff

SANFORD — After being refused additional state funds, the Seminole Community Mental Health Center has voted to close the Crossroads Alcohol Treatment Center in Sanford.

Jim Berko, executive director of the mental health center in Altamonte Springs, said the board's decision Thursday night was the result of ''consistent under-funding for the Crossroads center'' despite a 40 percent increase in the ''alcoholic-problem'' population in Seminole County.

About 20,000 Seminole County residents need some type of treatment for alcohol abuse, including nearly 9,200 who are aged 10 to 29, Berko said.

Crossroads provided minimal, short-term residential treatment and some outpatient counseling to an average of 200 patients this year. It has had a deficit budget for 1 1/2 years, has been forced to cut back on personnel and is unable to purchase needed equipment to continue quality treatment, Berko said.

The center has an annual operating budget of $166,076. Almost $85,000 of that comes from the state Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services through the Metropolitan Alcoholism Council, which distributes about $1.5 million toward alcoholism services in Seminole, Orange and Osceola counties.

Crossroads, which needs $58,000 more to keep operating, has received the same amount of state funding for the past seven years.

Stan Wagy, supervisor for alcohol, drug abuse and mental health with HRS, said he believes the decision to close is premature. He said that by Feb. 15 HRS will complete a survey to determine if alcohol-related programs in Seminole meet the needs of their clients.

Crossroads charges each patient treated at the 20-bed center $63 a week. Many patients are indigent or from low-income families and cannot afford the residential treatment cost, which during past years has been subsidized through the mental health center. Berko said the center ''no longer can afford to absorb that cost.''